


I Can Hear You

by Flightless_Wings



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Established Relationship, Happy Ending, I don't really wanna spoil it in the comments, Light Angst, M/M, Partial Deafness, Violinist Akaashi Keiji, boyfriend of the year Bokuto, but - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-30
Updated: 2016-08-30
Packaged: 2018-08-12 02:09:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7916296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flightless_Wings/pseuds/Flightless_Wings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bokuto is insanely proud of his boyfriend. Who wouldn't be? The boy can play the violin like no one else. There's nothing that could stand in his way of getting into the college of his dreams!...</p>
<p>Right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Can Hear You

Bokuto opened the back door of his car and Akaashi loaded up his violin case along with a folder full of sheet music and change of clothes. Bokuto assured him again that he would be fine the way he was--could that boy ever  _ not  _ look perfect?--but Akaashi was nervous so he let the matter go. They climbed in and Bokuto switched the station on his radio over to one of Akaashi’s presets. 

“This has to be good luck right?” He asked excitedly.

“What?”

“This is your song! This is Vanessa Mae right? This is the song you’re playing.”

Akaashi felt his heart beat a little faster and a small smile creep up on his lips. “Well look who knows so much.”

“I know, you’ve turned me into a nerd.”

“You used to not be able to tell the difference between a violin and a flute.” He teased.

His boyfriend huffed. “I was not that hopeless.”

“Practically.”

“Akaashi.” He whined.

The dark haired boy just chuckled softly and watched the trees passing them by as they drove. About a month ago, Akaashi had found out the school he desperately wanted to get into--the school with an utterly amazing music program--wanted to hear him perform. The time since had been a crazy mix of excitement, preparation, terror, fear, and adrenaline. And yet... right not he felt good. He wasn’t worried, he wasn’t over confident he just felt good. Maybe it was just the calm before the storm, but he was going to take the opportunity to sleep since he hadn’t had a full night’s rest since he found out.

 

Bokuto bounced his leg impatiently waiting for Akaashi to be called to the stage. He’d already waited a month for this day, hours for this moment, and now the seconds stretched as the Head of the Music Department scribbled down notes for the prospective student who’d already left the stage. How much longer did the universe expect him to wait? He could only imagine how Akaashi felt. He had decided to wear the second outfit after all out of nervousness from waiting and now Bokuto could almost picture him shifting from one foot to the other the way he did even in the beginning when he used to play just in front of their friends. 

Thinking back to those times now, even he could tell the difference in Akaashi’s playing abilities. The first time he’d ever heard Akaashi play was when he was wandering around town since Kuroo had ditched him that afternoon. If he had decided to just go home that day he never would have wandered past Akaashi’s house and heard the delicate but passionate music that came from the open window.

He couldn’t quite understand why he had been drawn to it since violin certainly wasn’t his type of music, but Bokuto slowly crossed the front yard and sat underneath the open window. Akaashi had stumbled through the ending but Bokuto clapped anyways. The dark haired boy had nearly jumped out of his skin, but after Bokuto explained how he’d been drawn in by the sound and begged him to play more, Akaashi started blushing. It was the quickest friendship he had ever had and so unpredicted that he could hardly believe it. Not only was he a year younger than Bokuto, but they had very little in common, at least at first glance. As time moved forward, the two grew closer and well here they were now.

The stage suddenly seemed so much bigger now that Akaashi stood there alone. A spotlight trained on him, the rest of the stage fading out into the rest of the room as if Bokuto could had run directly up next to him without tripping up the stairs. He resisted the urge to shout out encouragement or run up to be closer. Akaashi took a deep breath and pulled his violin out of it’s case, leaving the sheet music behind. Bokuto smiled. He practically knew the song like the back of his hand; it was the younger’s favorite. Of course he put his own artistic flare to it, Akaashi never did anything without flare whether intentional or not. 

Bokuto couldn’t fight the smile that spread over his face as the music poured from Akaashi’s instrument. It was soothing at first with an almost lullaby feel that made him feel quite relaxed. Hopefully, it worked for Akaashi as well. Soon though, the tempo picked up and Bokuto just knew his cheeks were going to be killing him later. Still, he wasn’t about to hide just how happy seeing Akaashi like that made him. Little smile, softly closed eyes, quick and lithe flicks of his wrist, they were all parts of his boyfriend that Bokuto had fallen so deeply for in the year they’d been together.

All too soon, it ended, the last note ringing throughout the hall in a more meaningful applause than any he had experienced before. Akaashi’s eyes slid open as if he was awakening from a pleasant sleep, first glancing at the woman writing down on her paper then to Bokuto sitting behind her obviously trying to contain his excitement. Not many people had quite such an energetic response to violin music, but that made the experience even more fun for Akaashi. 

When the Head of the Music Department glanced up, there was a slight smile to her lips. “We’ll be in touch, Akaashi Keiji.”

 

Outside, Bokuto finally let loose an excited yell. “You did it!” He attracted attention from nearly everyone left in the parking lot what with his jumping and yelling and praising, so Akaashi did the one thing he knew would quiet him down quicker than anything else: he grabbed the grayed haired boy by the collar and kissed him. 

“Yes I did it.” He says proudly once he’s pulled away.

“I knew you were going to kill it!” Bokuto bragged. “I have the most talented boyfriend ever.”

Bokuto gushed about it to everyone he could get a hold of before they got back on the road to go home.  _ Of course _ he got in, of course he did! No one else could hold a candle to Akaashi Keiji! But technically they did still have to wait about a week before they would know for certain.

“But of course you made it.”

“You know if you keep saying that, you’re going to jinx me.”

Bokuto opened his mouth, but quickly shut it again. Akaashi laughed lightly at the look for slight terror on his face. He has just enough time to grab Bokuto’s free hand and turn towards his window, settling in for the drive home, before there was a sharp impact and suddenly the car was spinning. 

Akaashi gripped the hand in his tightly as the car spun out, away from the one that had hit their side, and collided with a pole on the opposite side of the street. There was a ringing sound in his ears and the very distant sound of Bokuto calling to him. Akaashi didn’t remember letting go of Bokuto’s hand, but he was relieved when it returned to his. What happened? Why did his head hurt? What was trickling down his cheeks? Why did Bokuto have a cut across his forehead? Why was Bokuto’s mouth open in a scream, tears running down his face but no sound coming out?

His eyelids felt heavy. He was confused and suddenly very tired, but Bokuto’s hand squeezed his every time Akaashi let his eyes close. They climbed out of the car through the driver door, Bokuto nearly dropping amid the glass scattered around them as he tested the strength of his shaking legs. Akaashi’s eyes sluggishly drifted over the wreck of the car, noticing others had stopped and were now gathering around them. Bokuto wrapped his arms around Akaashi, mumbling something he couldn’t quite make out into his dark hair. 

He was just so very tired.

An ambulance appeared, along with a police car and a firetruck, though Akaashi couldn’t understand how he hadn’t noticed them before. In what he would only ever remember as a blur, he was taken into the ambulance, forced to lie down while Bokuto worriedly held his hand and kept mumbling. Why wouldn’t he just speak up? Akaashi never imagined he’d have to tell Bokuto to speak up.

Why was he so tired?

 

Bokuto woke up to the sound of a heart monitor beeping near his head. A nurse smiled down at him.

“You’re awake.” She said pleasantly.

Obviously.

“Where is he?” Bokuto said, attempting to push himself into a sitting position. His whole body protested the movement, making him groan. His limbs were heavy and his joints ached like he’d been flattened by a cement roller. “Where’s Akaashi?”

“Hmm... Dark hair, green eyes?”

“Absolutely beautiful? That’s him.”

She smiled somewhat sadly and marked the last thing down on her checklist. “I’ll call the doctor in so he can explain.”

“Explain what?”

Without answering, the nurse left. Of course, being the always level headed person that he is, Bokuto started to panic. By the time the doctor came in, he had worked himself up and was almost entirely convinced that Akaashi had somehow gotten lost and had amnesia and was wandering in some forest with only a hospital gown on.

A calm looking man walked in next. “Your friend is-”

“I want to see Akaashi!” Bokuto said, this time ignoring the pain it took to sit up. 

The doctor nodded. “Can you stand alright or would you like a wheelchair?”

Bokuto got to his feet, swayed slightly, but tried not to let it show. The doctor lead him out into the hallway, keeping a slow pace so Bokuto didn’t have to move much. Each step he took was stiff and awkward, but eventually he started to loosen up and the pain slowly but surely began to subside. As they walked, the doctor was talking which to Bokuto sounded like he was just throwing in every medical word he knew at random trying to confuse him. The general idea he got by the end of their short walk was that Akaashi was alive--and still in the building, not wandering around in the woods--but that surgery was an option. Of what, he was still not quite clear.

“So... I’m still confused. You said his head was injured but what exactly do you mean?”

“Well when I said his head, I guess that was a broad way of putting it. The impact, as from the crash itself and of his head hitting the glass in the passenger side window caused severe hearing damage.”

Bokuto stopped completely. “His hearing? No, no he- he can’t lose that!” 

“It’s not completely gone.” The doctor amended quickly. We call it Moderate Severe Hearing Loss. He could very well miss an entire conversation if you’re not sitting next to him speaking at a loud volume.”

Were it anyone else, Bokuto may have made a joke just then. Him speaking at a loud volume? Done and done. But instead, he stared at Akaashi’s name printed on the door in front of him, worried about his boyfriend just on the other side of it. “Can I go in?”

The doctor nodded. “He’s been told already, I’ll explain more later.”

The doctor let Bokuto walk in on his own. Another nurse, this time a young man, was attending to a silently crying Akaashi. 

“Akaashi...” Bokuto had never seen Akaashi in such a state. It almost scared him.

He reached out his hand and gently touched his boyfriend’s hand. Akaashi jumped suddenly and his head whirled so their eyes met. His green irises were ringed with red and his cheeks were wet. 

“Bokuto!” This time, Bokuto was the one who jumped slightly. Akaashi wiped his cheeks, but still spoke at an unusually loud volume. “Did he tell you?”

Bokuto nodded and sat on the edge of Akaashi’s bed. “What’s the surgery for?” He asked, trying to be loud enough for Akaashi to hear him. 

“I can get up to 70% of my hearing back. Enough to play again.” As he spoke, he looked sadly to the seat in the far corner of his hospital room. A violin case sat there, perfectly unscratched like nothing at all had happened. It was like a cruel reminder of what Akaashi had given up for loving that instrument so much. “That’s of course if everything goes right.” He amended.

After what seemed like a very long time--somewhere along the way the nurse had left as well--Bokuto spoke. “Are you going to do it?” He had to repeat it once because he’d been speaking softly, but Akaashi simply nodded. 

He didn’t like yelling, mostly because it was a constant reminder of what had happened to him. Bokuto looked at him sadly. He’d never wanted to trade places with someone so much in his entire life.

 

They waited hours for the surgery, both of them trying to forget that they were yelling just to have a normal conversation. The violin case stayed far away, both of them painfully aware of it while going out of there way not to look in the general direction. At one point, Akaashi slept and Bokuto sat holding his hand as he did, unwilling to be moved away. 

When the doctor came in and told them it was time to go, Akaashi didn’t need to hear the words, he could see it in the doctor’s face. It made him wonder how many times this hadn’t worked before, but he decided not to press the subject for fear he would back out. Bokuto walked with him of course and just before he let Akaashi’s hand go, he held it up against his chest. 

“Even if you can’t hear it-” He smiled slightly and used his hands as well as his voice to finish his sentence- “you will always know I love you.”

Akaashi kissed him briefly and followed the nurses through the doors, leaving Bokuto to entertain himself in the hallway. He figured he could use that time to look up more than one phrase in sign language. 

It felt like days before the doctor came back out. Bokuto jumped out of his chair but the doctor just held open the door in response to his questions. The gray haired young man stepped in to see Akaashi with a little smile on his face.

“Akaashi?” He asked slowly.

The dark haired boy jumped off the table and threw his arms around his boyfriend. “I can hear you, I can hear you!” 

Bokuto spun him around, nearly taking down all the other equipment in the room and scaring the poor nurses who jumped to catch it all. They explained that Akaashi had regained almost 75% of his hearing and should be able to play the violin again. It wouldn’t be perfect, but it would be better than nothing. 

On the other hand... it wasn’t a permanent solution. Akaashi would one day lose his hearing again. He took that much better than Bokuto would have guessed. Apparently, getting him into this college and through to a few school concerts would have been enough. A few tests later and they were both released to go home. Kuroo met them outside to give them a lift home and practically broke them in half with a hug. 

Akaashi’s parents met him in the front yard, crying and hugging their child who could have been taken from them in a few moments of carelessness. They hugged Bokuto too, showing more affection than they had the entire year he and Akaashi had been together. It wasn’t that they were ever rude, per say, but they weren’t quite... comfortable with the idea. Well a near death experience seemed to have brought the important things into perspective for them. 

About a week later, Akaashi got his acceptance letter from his college, something Bokuto never doubted for a second. It seemed that after such a close call, everything else began to settle back into place. Bokuto’s own college was only about twenty minutes away from Akaashi’s campus and even closer once he decided to get a small studio apartment that was settled almost directly in the middle of them. During the first semester, Akaashi spent so much time over at Bokuto’s apartment that he offered up half the closet and bathroom if Akaashi wanted it. Of course he agreed, he could hardly stand his current roommate, Kyotani, who had absolutely no appreciation for violin music! A drummer and a violinist really wasn’t the best idea. 

Along with their normal classes, both boys took sign language as well, helping each other study, practice and looking up all the inappropriate words the professors would never teach them. Kuroo complained that he felt even more like the awkward third wheel now that they could be saying nearly anything without him knowing it. At the same time, he couldn’t help but smile . Bokuto had never been so in love with anything or anyone as he was with Akaashi, anyone could see it in how he looked at his raven haired boyfriend. He claimed that if he hadn’t blown Bokuto off all that time ago, they may never have met. 

 

Eventually, Akaashi does lose his hearing, nearly all of it by the time he is 73. He’s okay with that though; a lot had happened in that time. They’d adopted a beautiful baby girl and named her Aika or 愛佳 which means Love Song. It was Bokuto’s idea, of course, and she grew into it. She had a wonderful voice and loved to sing from when she was very little with Akaashi as he played for her. He got to hear he call him Dad, to hear her sing, to hear her say she loved him, even play as the lead guitarist and vocalist in an all girl band.

He even got to hear Bokuto ask to marry him. Years past either of them ever having even the dare to dream that one day they would be able to get married in their home country... it happened. Just at it had in many countries all over the world, love had won. It was a very small ceremony of course, but it was perfect. Aika and her band played, Bokuto surprised him with a not quite perfect version of Vanessa Mae’s song--the same one that had brought them together, gotten him into college, and a family favorite for the three of them on every road trip--that brought him to tears.

So he wouldn’t get the chance to hear that song again, but he was truly honestly okay with that. He had heard it enough to believe he could still play it without sheet music in front of him. 

So he wouldn’t be able to hear his daughter band again, well since they had taken off, they were hardly playing in Japan anyways. Aika had grown up using sign and could tell him the lyrics to all her songs whenever he did got to see her.

So he wouldn’t be able to hear Bokuto say he loved him. Not a night went by that Bokuto forgot to tell him, both with his voice and with sign, that he loved Akaashi. 

So he couldn’t hear.

Sometimes, just as he fell asleep, he imagines he can hear Bokuto’s voice as clear as day.

**Author's Note:**

> Well how is that for emotional.... I've had this idea for MONTHS now. It's been killing me to write it but it's finally over.


End file.
